WRs Rome Odunze And Luther Burden Taking Chicago Bears Offense to New Heights

Can we glean enough from Rome Odunze's great start and Luther Burden's fantastic finish during last season to project them being a duo of pass catchers who could both be fantasy starters every week in 2026? If Caleb Williams keeps progressing, it could happen, even with a step forward from TE Colston Loveland. Ian Hartitz breaks it down as part of his Chicago Bears Team Preview. 

Can this passing game enable multiple high-end fantasy receivers?

• WR1: Luther Burden (WR18)
• WR2: Rome Odunze (WR30)
• WR3: Kalif Raymond
• WR4: Zavion Thomas

Burden's rookie season didn't exactly produce consistent fireworks. Sure, his 8-138-1 explosion against the 49ers in the fantasy championship was awesome, but it's tough to call 751 total yards and 2 touchdowns in 17 games (including playoffs) an overly special campaign.

That said: It was the efficient manner in which Burden picked up those yards that makes him such a prime breakout candidate ahead of 2026. You see, HC Ben Johnson had Burden play at least half of the offense's snaps in only seven games last season, but we saw some serious fireworks from the rookie when he was on the field.

Consider: Just five rookie wide receivers have averaged north of 2.5 yards per route run over the last decade (min. 50 targets):

• Luther Burden (2.71)
• A.J. Brown (2.68)
• Justin Jefferson (2.66)
• Puka Nacua (2.6)
• Ja'Marr Chase (2.51)

That's pretty f*cking good company. The rest of the top-10 leaderboard is pretty nice, too. Burden does drop to ninth if you include the playoffs, but still!

Of course, rising third-year receiver Rome Odunze might have something to say about Burden being this offense's No. 1 receiver. The No. 9 overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft hasn't exactly gotten off to a blistering start, but let's all take a deep breath and remember how Odunze was playing before dealing with some untimely injuries last season:

• Odunze popped up on the injury report with a heel issue in Week 9, noting that it was a "progressive thing." He averaged 15.5 PPR points per game in Weeks 1-8—good for the 12th-highest mark among all wide receivers.
• It was eventually revealed that Odunze was playing through a stress fracture in his foot. He further aggravated the issue prior to Week 14 and was forced out of the team's final five games of the season. He worked as just the WR62 (7.6) in Weeks 9-13 while playing through the pain.

The impact of the injury was clear from the eye test as well as from separation-based analytics. Per Fantasy Points, Odunze posted the position's best average separation score against man coverage in Weeks 1-7, but fell to 70th during his final six games of 2025.

Ultimately, Fantasy Life Projections have Odunze (122 targets) with a slim lead over Burden (119), but that's enough opportunity for both receivers to land inside the top-25 projection leaderboard for fantasy points. The asking price for Burden (WR21 ADP) is steeper than Odunze (WR28) in early drafts; just realize a Year 3 leap from Caleb Williams should leave more than enough fantasy-friendly opportunity on the table for both inside this condensed passing attack. I certainly don't love Odunze's recent comments about his foot, but learned doctors aren't quite as concerned with the wording. I certainly don't love Odunze's recent comments about his foot, but learned doctors aren't quite as concerned with the wording.

Also note: Longtime Lions return ace/WR4 Kalif Raymond is reunited with Ben Johnson and should fill in nicely for the departed Olamide Zaccheaus … Third-round LSU WR Zavion Thomas caught many by surprise, although it sounds like Johnson has a plan for the rookie. Don't expect too big of a weekly role—this offense figures to rely heavily on multi-TE formations—but there's big-play gadget potential here. I've seen worse late-round rookie draft picks than a speedy, versatile Day 2 rookie with the potential to work as their team's No. 3 wide receiver from Day 1.

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